


Power Trips

by ash_mcj



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Fix-It, Fix-It, Flashbacks, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Past Child Abuse, Siberia Scene in Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Young Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24470134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ash_mcj/pseuds/ash_mcj
Summary: While Bucky, Steve, and Tony are fighting in Siberia after the truth behind the late Starks' death is revealed, Bucky has a flashback that stops the battle. The three of them remember a very old memory of the first time Tony had met them as a child in the middle of one of Howard's beatings.[This does include them overhearing abuse and then seeing an injured four-year-old Tony, so please do not read if this is triggering to you! It does end on a good note though, since this is a fix-it fic!]
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	Power Trips

**Author's Note:**

> Just like the summary warned, this includes physical child abuse! It is not super graphic, but it is there. Yes, the timeline is a little weird with Tony's age, but we are pretending it makes sense, because...well...it's fan fiction! There is also cussing in this, just in case anyone is sensitive to that kind of thing. Enjoy!

Bucky forced himself to open his heavy eyelids and tried to focus on the concrete ceiling, desperately holding onto what little semblance of consciousness he had found as he laid there on the dirty ground. He glanced over at his left arm, which he found to be completely blown off by something. What had happened to him? Where was he? He’d obviously hit his head pretty hard, if he was feeling this disoriented.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and took a deep breath to avoid throwing up at the movement. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears and his head was throbbing painfully. Taking in his surroundings, he suddenly remembered what was going on. He was in the abandoned Hydra base in Siberia, where Stark had attacked him after finding out about his part in his parents’ murder. He couldn’t have been unconscious too long, because Stark and Steve were still going at it ruthlessly. When he was sure that he wasn’t going to pass out again, he slowly got to his feet.

Steve threw a series of successful punches and was able to knock Stark down on his back, before quickly straddling his torso and repeatedly bringing his fists down against the metal helmet covering his head. After the first few hits, Stark had stopped trying to fight him off. He put his hands out in front of him in an attempt to protect himself, but he wasn’t touching Steve. This didn’t seem to deter the blonde, though, who grabbed his shield and began smashing it down onto the helmet until the faceplate came off and exposed his bloodied face for Bucky to see. It was easy sometimes to forget that there was a man behind the armor--it almost dehumanized him at times. 

Steve brought his shield up and was about to bring it down on his old teammate again, before Bucky caught sight of the look in Stark’s eyes and instinctively used his flesh arm to swiftly put Steve in a makeshift chokehold and pull him off of him by throwing his own body weight backwards. The familiar terrified, yet resigned emotions blatant in Stark’s face burned in Bucky’s brain as a flashback threw his mind back into a time before he was The Winter Soldier.

_ Bucky and Steve walked up to the freshly-painted front door of the Stark Mansion, still in their military uniforms. They were laughing and pushing each other playfully over something Bucky couldn’t quite recall. _

_ “Do you think Howard will mind that we’re an hour early?” Steve asked, a more serious tone taking over his voice. “Maybe we should just wait a bit.” _

_ “I really doubt he’ll care, Punk. He’s the one that always insists that we’re welcome whenever.” Bucky shrugged, knocking a few times. _

_ Within seconds, Maria opened the door and greeted them with the bright, welcoming smile she always did. “Hello, Sergeant Barnes. Captain Rogers. We didn’t expect you for a little while longer...I’m afraid dinner isn’t quite ready yet.” _

_ “We were able to get off base a earlier than we expected to and figured we’d see if we could join you and Howard a little early.” Bucky explained. _

_ “If it’s a bad time, we can go for a walk or something, Maria.” Steve offered. “We don’t want to intrude.” _

_ “No, no.” She waved him off, as if that thought were absurd. She moved to the side to allow them access to the house and waved them inside. “I won’t have any of that nonsense. There’s never any intrusion--you both know that Howard and I love having you around. Now, hurry and come in off the porch before someone thinks I’m making you stand out there in the cold.” _

_ “Yes, Ma’am.” Bucky chuckled, stepping inside the heated entryway. He took her hand and kissed her knuckle gently. “Always a pleasure to see you. You really are the best host I’ve ever seen.” _

_ “Oh, hush, you big flatterer.” She shook her head, a fond smile playing at her lips. The two men followed her into the sitting room that they had been in quite often lately and the took their usual spots in the large, plush chairs by the fireplace. “I believe Howard’s in his lab working at the moment, but I’ll give the workshop a ring to let him know that we have company.”  _

_ “Thank you.” Steve nodded, smiling sheepishly. It was astounding to Bucky that even being Captain America hadn’t made Steve any less awkward around women. _

_ “Of course.” Maria told him, before turning and starting towards the kitchen. She hadn’t made it halfway out of the room, when a deep, muffled voice sounded from a door in the corner of the room, gaining everyone’s attention. _

_ “Anthony, what the fuck are you doing hiding in here?” Howard yelled angrily. “You know better than to touch anything in my lab!” _

_ “I-I’m sorry, Daddy!” a small voice squeaked. Bucky had never seen he Starks’ son in the times that he’d been over, but he assumed that was him. “I promise I didn’t touch anything! I was just looking and then it just...I didn’t mean--” _

_ The child was silenced by the sharp sound of a loud smack, followed by a thud that Bucky was fairly certain was the child falling onto the floor. _

_ Bucky stood up and took a step towards the door, but Maria rushed towards him and put her hand on his arm. “Please, Bucky, it’s nothing.” _

_ He looked at her in disbelief as she attempted to cover up the situation. She was enabling her husband to act this way with her young child? He wouldn’t have expected that from Maria. _

_ “How many times do I need to remind you that you don’t belong down here? You always break everything you touch, damn it! Are you stupid, Anthony? How do you always forget like this?” _

_ “It doesn’t sound like nothing, Maria.” Bucky told her in a flat tone that called her lie and expressed his disappointment in her. _

_ “Please believe me...I wouldn’t lie. Everything is fine, I swear.” She insisted. “Maybe you guys should come over for dinner a different--” _

_ “I-I’m sorry, Daddy, I’m s-sorry! I d-didn’t mean to hurt it--it was an a-acci-dent!” Anthony pleaded, his sobs affecting his speech. _

_ There was a faint scream, followed by three consecutive thuds and Bucky shrugged Maria’s hand off of his arm and ran to the door of the workshop. He threw it open and sprinted down the stairs. He heard Steve follow after him and Maria’s last attempt at objecting, before she realized it was too late. _

_ Once they reached the lab, the scene in front of Bucky made his blood boil. _

_ A very small boy, maybe three or four at the oldest, was halfway kneeling on the ground and being held up by the tight fistfull of his wild brown curls that Howard was holding. His lower lip was cut and Bucky figured his gums or tongue were also bleeding, from the amount of blood dribbling down his chin from his slightly-swollen mouth. His thin arms were exposed under his striped t-shirt, revealing several large bruises in various stages of healing. His hands were shaking as he held them out in front of himself in a useless attempt to protect his face from further assault. The way Anthony was looking up at his father, though, was what really hurt Bucky. His dark, tear-brimmed eyes showed more raw fear than he’d ever seen in his life, and more resignation than he’d ever  _ wanted  _ to imagine being present in a child so young. Those weren’t the eyes of someone who feared the unknown--they were the eyes of someone who knew  _ exactly  _ what was about to happen and despite being beyond terrified of it, they knew it was inevitable. It was  _ surrender _.  _

_ Bucky was moving before either of the Starks had really processed his presence in the workshop. He grabbed Howard’s wrist tightly and tweaked it to force Howard to let go of Anthony’s hair, then threw him backwards into the wall behind him. Howard’s eyes were wild and furious as he threw a punch at him, but he easily blocked it and countered with his own, which connected with Howard’s jaw, causing him to stumble backwards into the wall again for support. Bucky glanced quickly behind himself to make sure Steve was helping the child, which he was. Good--that meant Bucky could focus on Howard. _

_ “What--” Howard tried, but was cut off by Bucky hitting him again, in his nose this time. Just like before, Howard attempted to punch him, but Was unsuccessful. Bucky caught his arm and slammed it into the wall beside his head, before twisting his hand into the front of his shirt and snarling at him. _

_ “I don’t like assholes knocking people around who are smaller than them. It’s not a fair fight. You want someone to scuffle with, find someone your own size.” _

_ “I don’t give a fuck what you don’t like, Barnes. You can’t just come into my goddamn house and tell me how to parent my own child.” _

_ “Well, when your parenting style involves beating the shit out of someone barely out of their toddler years for something completely age-appropriate, loud enough to be heard a floor up, I don’t really care about proper etiquette. I won’t stand by and watch someone beat on another person for their own little power trip--especially when that person isn’t fighting back.” _

_ Despite Bucky’s obvious aggression towards him, Howard simply smiled. “You know, I outta call the cops on you right now, but I like you guys. I’ll give you a chance to get the hell out of my house and forget this ever happened.” _

_ “Call ‘em.” Bucky dared. He couldn’t believe this situation--Howard was going to call the police on  _ them _? “I’m not leaving the kid with you.” _

_ “I don’t know what you think you can do, Barnes, but you have no proof of anything. Anthony is an awfully clumsy kid--that’s all. Isn’t that right, Anthony?” Howard asked, looking past Bucky at the crying child clinging desperately to Steve. He hesitantly peaked his face out of Steve’s shirt to look at his father, who cocked an eyebrow at him challengingly. “Right?” _

_ Anthony nodded softly, before hiding his bloody face again in Steve’s chest. Howard gave a shit-eating grin to Bucky and shrugged. _

_ “You’re a sick son of a bitch, Stark.” Bucky sneered. _

_ “I’m a  _ rich  _ son of a bitch, actually.” Howard corrected him smugly. “Believe it or not, money holds a lot more power in our good old American justice system than you may think. Tell me, Sergeant Barnes: what would happen to you if I told police about how you came into my house and attacked my son and I ? Surely your rank in the military would be revoked...not to mention, you’d gain a criminal record. How would you fair in prison, do you think?” _

_ “Are you threatening me?” _

_ “I’m warning you. I’m not a man you want against you.” _

_ “Bucky, let’s go.” Steve said, appearing at Bucky’s right side and putting a firm hand on his shoulder. _

_ “Are you serious?”: Bucky laughed incredulously, looking over at his best friend. “You really just left an injured kid on the floor and are agreeing to sweep this under the rug because a child abuser is threatening us?” _

_ “He’s right. Stark has enough money to pay off any officer or judge. Besides, even without monetary bribes, who are the police going to believe? You, who have busted knuckles, or Howard Stark, who has injuries that match yours? He’s Howard Stark, Bucky. It doesn’t look good for you--or me, really, if he calls the police.” Steve reasoned. “I don’t like it either, but we have a country to protect...a war to win...the Army needs us. You know that as well as I do.” _

_ “Listen to the Captain. There’s a reason he’s in charge, Barnes. Your hero complex is clouding your judgment.” Howard told him. “You’ve got thirty seconds before my kindness runs out and I make that call.” _

_ “Steve, we can’t just leave the kid.” Bucky said, but allowed his friend to pull him away from Howard. _

_ “We don’t have much of a choice, Pal. It’s not our business. Our business is fighting Nazis and making sure our country remains free and protected. Let’s go do that.” _

_ Bucky looked over at Anthony, who was avoiding eye contact and inspecting his own tiny fingernails. With a heavy chest, he let Steve pull him out of the lab. _

“Bucky!” Steve choked out, clutching at the arm around his throat. His voice snapped Bucky from his thoughts and he let him go, allowing him to roll away from him and catch his breath. “Wh--what was that about?!”

Bucky looked over at Tony again, who had gotten himself up into a sitting position and was leaning back against a concrete pillar, and then back at Steve. 

“I won’t stand by and watch someone beat on another person for their own little power trip. Especially when they aren’t fighting back.” He told him. “Tony was down, and you weren’t stopping.”

“I...I always thought that night was a dream.” Tony said, Bucky’s words obviously reminding him of the very distant memory. “I figured it was my imagination creating some scenario where my heroes saved me or something. That really...happened? That night? It was real?”

“Yeah.” Bucky confirmed. He usually wasn’t entirely certain of the validity of the memories that had been coming back to him recently, but he was sure of this one. He remembered--no, he  _ felt _ \--the guilt that had haunted him ever since that night as if it were last week. “Anthony, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Tony waved him off, similarly to the way Maria did all those years ago. “I’m sorry I attacked you. I know it wasn’t you. Besides, I don’t know why i even lashed out like that--it’s not like I was even all that upset when they died. I guess I almost forgot how crappy they were. It’s weird...when someone dies, your brain seems to only hold onto the good times.”

“That’s not what I’m apologizing for.” Bucky said, shaking his head as he collapsed down to his knees in front of Tony. “If I’m being honest, killing Howard Stark is one of the only things I  _ don’t  _ regret from my Hydra years. I’m sorry for leaving you with him that night. Up until the day they got into my head and made me forget, I never forgave myself for that.”

“Don’t regret that night, Barnes. Seriously. He would’ve ruined you both. I don’t hold any resentment toward you for it. Never did. You were the only one who’d ever stood up for me like that. I really appreciated it. Hell, I idolized you. Even got one of those Bucky Bear toys after you’d been presumed dead.” Tony assured him. “You did more than enough.”

“I didn’t. I should have never traded a child’s safety for my reputation.”

They shared an emotional look for a few seconds as they mentally sorted out their past feelings that had resurfaced, before Tony held his hand out towards him. Bucky smiled and shook it, feeling the tension melt away instantly.

“I’m sorry, too, Tony.” Steve spoke finally. “I lost control of myself there for a minute.”

“I did, too, Cap. You’re forgiven if I am.”

“I’m serious...I’m sorry for all of this. I took all my stress and anger out on you and I shouldn’t have. You’re not my enemy--never have been--and it wasn’t fair for me to treat you as one. Bucky’s my friend, but so are you. We may have our differences, but I’ve never doubted that you’d have my back if I needed it, and I should’ve had yours.”

“Remind me to hug you when we’re cleaned up a bit, alright?” Tony said playfully, but his smile was genuine. 

“I should’ve told you when I found out about your parents. I was a cruddy friend. I didn’t want to hurt you, but I hurt you way worse this way. Honestly, I think I was just scared of having the conversation and I put it off until it was too late.”

“Eh, I was a shitty friend, too. I should’ve listened to you when you told me that Bucky was framed.”

“Language.” Steve joked half-heartedly, earning a laugh from his former teammate. Bucky didn’t understand the inside joke, but he was grateful that the prior bad blood was seemingly resolved.

“So...what happens now?” Bucky asked them. There was still a war going on, Accords trying to dictate their lives and involvement, and their fugitive status was still active. Not to mention most of their friends were in prison. They couldn’t just hang out in this bunker forever.

“Well, we need to sort out your innocence and fix the Accords to be a little less strict. I already have a few meetings with people to petition for tweaks in the laws. I have my whole legal team on it. Plus, we need to work on the plea deals for the jailbirds. You can stay in the Avengers Compound in the meantime until I figure out how to amend the Accords enough for you all to agree to sign them and get pardoned.” Tony told them, obviously having thought this all out before.

“Thank you...you turned out to be a good man, Anthony. You follow your gut and look out for those you care for. That’s all any of us can do.” Bucky complimented him honestly.

Tony rolled his eyes dramatically and said, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. We all make mistakes, we all love each other, we’re in this together--I know the drill. Now, let’s figure out a game plan to discreetly get out of here and to the Avengers Compound. All of these feelings are starting to reverberate off of these walls and echo back at us. It’s making me nauseous.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments (or hitting that kudos button)! It lets me know if you guys would like more of this type of material from me and I really appreciate it :)
> 
> If you want to support me even more, you could follow [My Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/marvel-obsessed-chick)


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